Cable news in brief

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33875, 21 June 1975, Page 15

Cable news in brief

'Corpse abducted I No-one in Italy is safe I from the country's booming t f kidnapping racket — not i i even the dead. The police in < ■ Novara report that kidnap- c i pers took a corpse from a t cemetery and demanded 1000 i million lire (SNZI.I9m) in 1 - ransom from the family con- J > cerne.d. They received 40 1 million lire ($NZ47,600), — i , Novara. June 20, , L.b. crime move President Ford has pro-1’ b posed legislation which-’ ’would set mandatory prison]’ ’-sentences for armed crimi-] 1 “nals, and would compensate! ‘ ’lthe victims of such crimes!’ [for losses as high as I’ ySUSSO,OOO. “America has;! >! been far from successful in ’ ■'dealing with the sort of - ‘j crime that obsesses Ameri- > I cans day and night — I j “mean street crime, crime! 'I that invades our neighbor-] ! I hoods and our homes, such I i as murders, robberies, rapes, 1 '■jmuggings, hold-ups, break- f ’ins, the kind of brutal vio- t * lence that makes us fearful . ’ of strangers and afraid to go ] >!out at night,” Mr Ford says I ,-in a message to Congress. > The President’s proposal ..would set mandatory minimum sentences for aircraft hijackers, kidnappers. narcotics dealers, and many persistent, offenders. ] — Washington. June 20. ] Xcm lease of life A party of 201 Vietnamese] ; refugees arrived in Sydney! I I by air today from Hong - . Kong to begin a new life in j Australia. The group, ran- i ging from infants to a man, i aged 79, were handed blan- ( I I'kets for extra warmth by; ■ immigration officials as they I’ •■walked through wintry rain ’ tjto buses waiting to take’! [ithem to a hostel. The 126] 8 ;]adults in the party are most-p j ly semi-skilled workers and 8 i i students. — Sydney, June’ . 20. r 1 * F Link in prospect r > - f; Thailand will be the next i!country to establish diplo-' -'mafic relations with China t the Speaker of the Nationally i Assembly (Mr Prasit Kan- i • chanawat) said in Bangkok t ! last night. Mr Prasit. who f - led a Parliamentary delega- f tion of 32 members on a 10;. . day good-will visit to China > told reporters on his return > that Peking was ready to , forge ties with Thailand. — ißangkok, June 20. h

Soviet poll Soviet voters returned their usual all-but-unani-; mous support — 99.95 per cent — for State-sponsored candidates in last Sunday’s; elections to the parliaments; and local councils of the 15 ( Soviet republics. — Moscow 1 , June 20. Mass dismissal Eighteen senior officers of Burma’s state-owned railways. airways and road transport corporations have, been dismissed for inefficiency, negligence and illegal practices. An official’ announcement accuses the: executives of being involved in foreign-regulation viola-, tions, smuggling and narcotics traffic. — Rangoon, June 20. Bait on Pretender Don Juan de Borbon Battenberg, Count of Barcelona, a, long-time Pretender to the; Spanish Throne, has been; told that the Government has;

barred him from returning to Spain. Europa Press reports the ban follows a declaration by the Count that he, and not his son, should rightfully succeed General Franco, who has named Prince Juan Carlos de Borbon to succeed him as Head of State and as Spain’s next king.—Madrid. June 20. T.U . 4. loss The president and senior vice-president of Trans World Airlines have resigned, the company having reported an SUSBB.6m deficit for the first five months of this year.; —New York. June 20. l eu er jobs Nearly 2 million Italians ’were unemployed in April—■

110 per cent more than a year before. Unemployment beneIfits covered 100.1 million hours in the January-May ■ ] period this year, a figure more than eight times higher ■ than in' the comparable 1974 period. The benefits, which ] cover from 66 to 80 per cent ]of a worker’s wage, were ■especially extensive in the ] 'metalworking and textile sectors. —Milan, June 20. I .S. oil bill The United States House.of Representatives has approved a bill which would 1 cut foreign oil imports by about 575,000 barrels a day;' ] in 1977 — far short of President Ford's target of 2 million barrels-a-day. The]] House Energy Conservation Bill, which now goes to the ] Senate, would impose flexible import quotas and a 10 iper cent tariff on foreign oil. On the domestic front, it I would set Federal standards for car-fuel efficiency, tax ;'businesses which use oil for ( i heating, and give tax credits Ito develop coal and other (energy sources. — Washington, June 20. E.L.P..P.L.F. claim Eritreans fighting to break away from Ethiopia need only food and heavy artillery to succeed, according to i a secessionist leader. Mr Saleh Othman Saleh Sabah, of the Eritrean Liberation ■ : I ro n t-Popular Liberation ! f orces. He told a press con-' ference yesterday: “The situ- - ation is fully in our favour.” and, adding that 20.000 tons !of food were required, he appealed to Arab and other j countries to provide it. — I Kuwait. June 20. Papal burden Pope Paul has described the violence and hatred in Northern Ireland as heinous;’ offences in the eyes of God.: The events in the province were a heavy burden for] him. he told the new British - Minister to the Holy See (Mr Dugald Malcolm) who was presenting his credentials yesterday. — Rome, i June 20. ■ 1 . 1 Methodist revival Workmen have begun ’ renovating John Wesley’s ’ Chapel. the shrine of ’ Methodism, in City Road, I London. The building nearly ’ 200 years old, has been closed ’ 'to public worship for three • years because it is unsafe: ’ the ceilings, floors and wail' of the chape] need repairs.— ‘London, June 20. r